A page from the "Calendars" exhibit...

Ethiopian

The Ethiopian calendar is based on the Coptic calendar, although it differs with regard to the saint’s days and the time of observing them.

The Coptic, or Egyptian, calendar is 7/8 years behind the Gregorian calendar. This discrepancy results from differences between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church as to the date of the creation of the world.

The Ethiopian calendar is based on the Egyptian. An Egyptian year has 13 months. The first 12 months have 30 days. The last month, Paguemain, is an intercalary month, which has 6 days on leap year and 5 on others.

The year starts on 11 September in the Gregorian Calendar or on the 12th in (Gregorian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Gregorian so that the extra month always has 6 days in a Gregorian Leap Year. The names of the months and their starting dates are as follows:

Egyptian

Ethiopian

Start Date (regular)

Start Date (leap year)

Thuout

Meskerem

11 Sept

12 Sept

Paopi

Tikemet

11 Oct

12 Oct

Athor

Hidar

10 Nov

11 Nov

Khoiak

Tahesas

10 Dec

11 Dec

Tobi

Tir

9 Jan

10 Jan

Mekhir

Yekatit

8 Feb

9 Feb

Fameno or Baramhat

Megabit

10 Mar

-

Farmou or Baramouda

Miyaza

9 Apr

-

Pakhon

Ginbot

9 May

-

Paony

Sene

8 Jun

-

Epep

Hamle

8 Jul

-

Mesori

Nehase

7 Aug

-

Nasie

Pagume

6 Sep

-

The Coptic New Year is a holiday in Ethiopia. Christmas falls on the 7th of January as in the Orthodox "old" calendar. Likewise, Epiphany is on the 19th of January. Easter would appear to be calculated according to the Orthodox calendar also. Christmas and Epiphany also do not appear to move by one day during Leap Years as they would if they were being set by the above calendar. Thus, it would seem that Christian feasts are set according to the Orthodox calendar rather than according to the Coptic. An Egyptian Coptic source simply describes the date of Easter as being "the second Sunday after the first full moon in Spring."

These are the major public holidays:

Date (in Western Calendar)

Ethiopian public holiday

January 7

Ethiopian Christmas (Genna)

January 19

Ethiopian Epiphany (Timkat)

March 2

Victory of Adwa Day

March 13

Id Al Fitir (End of Ramadan)

April 6

Patriots Victory Day

April 17

Id Al Adha (Arafa)

April 25

Ethiopian Good Friday

April 27

Ethiopian Easter (Fasika)

May 28

Downfall of the Dergue (Since 1991)

July 17

Birth of Prophet Mohammed (Moulid)

Sepember 11

Ethiopian New Year (Enqutatash)

September 27

Feast of the True Cross (Meskal)

Persian

The Persian calendar is a solar calendar with a starting point that matches that of the Islamic calendar. Apart from that, the two calendars are not related. The origin of the Persian calendar can be traced back to the 11th century when a group of astronomers (including the well-known poet Omar Khayyam) created what is known as the Jalaali calendar. However, a number of changes have been made to the calendar since then.

The current calendar has been used in Iran since 1925 and in Afghanistan since 1957. However, Afghanistan used the Islamic calendar in the years 1999-2002.

What does a Persian year look like?

The names and lengths of the 12 months that comprise the Persian year
are:

1. Farvardin (31 days)

7. Mehr (30 days)

2. Ordibehesht (31 days)

8. Aban (30 days)

3. Khordad (31 days)

9. Azar (30 days)

4. Tir (31 days)

10. Day (30 days)

5. Mordad (31 days)

11. Bahman (30 days)

6. Shahrivar (31 days)

12. Esfand (29/30 days)

(Due to different transliterations of the Persian alphabet, other spellings of the months are possible.) In Afghanistan the months are named differently.

The month of Esfand has 29 days in an ordinary year, 30 days in a leap year.

When does the Persian year begin?

The Persian year starts at vernal equinox. If the astronomical vernal equinox falls before noon (Tehran true time) on a particular day, then that day is the first day of the year. If the astronomical vernal equinox falls after noon, the following day is the first day of the year.

How does one count years?

As in the Islamic calendar (section 4.3), years are counted since Mohammed’s emigration to Medina in AD 622. At vernal equinox of that year, AP 1 started (AP = Anno Persico/Anno Persarum = Persian year).

Note that contrary to the Islamic calendar, the Persian calendar counts solar years. In the year AD 2003 we have therefore witnessed the start of Persian year 1382, but the start of Islamic year 1424.

What years are leap years?

Since the Persian year is defined by the astronomical vernal equinox, the answer is simply: Leap years are years in which there are 366 days between two Persian New Year’s days.

However, basing the Persian calendar purely on an astronomical observation of the vernal equinox is rejected by many, and a few mathematical rules for determining the length of the year have been suggested.

The most popular (and complex) of these is probably the following:

The calendar is divided into periods of 2820 years. These periods are then divided into 88 cycles whose lengths follow this pattern:

29, 33, 33, 33, 29, 33, 33, 33, 29, 33, 33, 33, ...

This gives 2816 years. The total of 2820 years is achieved by extending the last cycle by 4 years (for a total of 37 years).

If you number the years within each cycle starting with 0, then leap years are the years that are divisible by 4, except that the year 0 is not a leap year.

So within, say, a 29 year cycle, this is the leap year pattern:

Year

Year

0

Ordinary

15

Ordinary

1

Ordinary

16

Leap

2

Ordinary

17

Ordinary

3

Ordinary

18

Ordinary

4

Leap

19

Ordinary

5

Ordinary

20

Leap

6

Ordinary

21

Ordinary

7

Ordinary

22

Ordinary

8

Leap

23

Ordinary

9

Ordinary

24

Leap

10

Ordinary

25

Ordinary

11

Ordinary

26

Ordinary

12

Leap

27

Ordinary

13

Ordinary

28

Leap

14

Ordinary

This gives a total of 683 leap years every 2820 years, which corresponds to an average year length of 365 683/2820 = 365.24220 days. This is a better approximation to the tropical year than the 365.2425 days of the Gregorian calendar.

The current 2820 year period started in the year AP 475 (AD 1096).

This "mathematical" calendar currently coincides closely with the purely astronomical calendar. In the years between AP 1244 and 1531 (AD 1865 and 2152) a discrepancy of one day is seen twice, namely in AP 1404 and 1437 (starting at vernal equinox of AD 2025 and 2058). However, outside this period, discrepancies are more frequent.

Balinese

The Balinese use two calendar systems, the Hindu Çaka and their own Pawukon. The Pawukon is intricate. It is based on ten concurrent weeks, which have one to ten days (although the one-day week is really a copy of the two-day week with only one day named). To complicate matters, only the three-day, five-day and seven-day weeks run regularly: the others are derived in various ways. The whole system repeats every 210 days: these 210 days are divided into thirty named cycles of the seven-day week. There are various other cycles and holy days defined on these principles.

Baha'i

The Baha'i religion was founded in Iran in the mid-19th century by Mirza Hoseyn ‘Ali Nuri, who is known as Baha’ Ullah (Arabic: "Glory of God"). The cornerstone of Baha'i belief is the conviction that Baha’ Ullah and his forerunner, who was known as the Bab, were manifestations of God, who in his essence is unknowable. The principal Baha'i tenets are the essential unity of all religions and the unity of humanity. Baha'is believe that all the founders of the world’s great religions have been manifestations of God and agents of a progressive divine plan for the education of the human race. Despite their apparent differences, the world’s great religions, according to the Baha'is, teach an identical truth. Baha’ Ullah’s peculiar function was to overcome the disunity of religions and establish a universal faith. Baha'is believe in the oneness of humanity and devote themselves to the abolition of racial, class, and religious prejudices. The great bulk of Baha'i teachings is concerned with social ethics; the faith has no priesthood and does not observe ritual forms in its worship.

The Year

The year is based on the solar year of 365 days, five hours and some fifty minutes. Each year is divided into nineteen months of nineteen days each with four Intercalary Days (five in a leap year), called Ayyám-i-Há which Bahá'u'lláh specified should precede the nineteenth month. The Bahá’í New Year’s Day (Naw Rúz) falls on the Spring Equinox. This usually occurs on 21 March but if the Equinox falls after sunset on 21 March, Naw Rúz is to be celebrated on 22 March because the Bahá’í day begins at sunset.

The Months

The names of the months in the Bahá’í (Badí) calendar were given by the Báb, who drew them from the nineteen names of God invoked in a prayer said during the month of fasting in Islam. At the beginning of each month, the Bahá’ís hold their local community’s regular worship gathering. Called a "Feast," it is more a spiritual dinner than a physical one. The months are:

Order

Name

Meaning

Gregorian Dates

1

Bahá

Splendor

21 March - 8 April

2

Jalál

Glory

9 April - 27 April

3

Jamál

Beauty

28 April - 16 May

4

'Azamat

Grandeur

17 May - 4 June

5

Núr

Light

5 June - 23 June

6

Rahmat

Mercy

24 June - 12 July

7

Kalimát

Words

13 July - 31 July

8

Kamál

Perfection

1 August - 19 August

9

Asmá’

Names

20 August - 7 September

10

'Izzat

Might

8 September - 26 September

11

Mashíyyat

Will

27 September - 15 October

12

'Ilm

Knowledge

16 October - 3 November

13

Qudrat

Power

4 November - 22 November

14

Qawl

Speech

23 November - 11 December

15

Masá'il

Questions

12 December - 30 December

16

Sharaf

Honor

31 December - 18 February

17

Sultán

Sovereignty

19 Janurary - 6 February

18

Mulk

Dominion

7 February - 25 February

19

'Alá

Loftiness

2 March - 20 March

The days of the week:

Order

Name

Meaning

Gregorian Equivalent

1

Jalál

Glory

Saturday

2

Jamál

Beauty

Sunday

3

Kamál

Perfection

Monday

4

Fidál

Grace

Tuesday

5

'Idál

Justice

Wednesday

6

Istijlál

Majesty

Thursday

7

Istiqlál

Independence

Friday

The Bahá’í day of rest is Isiqlál (Friday) and the Bahá’í day begins and ends at sunset.

Each of the days of the month is also given the name of one of the attributes of God. the names are the same as those of the nineteen months; thus Naw-Rúz, the first day of the first month, would be considered the ‘day of Bahá of the month Bahá’. If it fell on a Saturday, the first day of the Bahá’í week, it would also be the 'day of Jalál’

The Cycles (Váhid)

In His Writings, revealed in Arabic, the Báb divided the years following the date of His Revelation into cycles of nineteen years each. Each cycle of nineteen years is called a Váhid; nineteen cycles constitute a period called Kull-i-Shay. The names of the years in each cycle are:

Order

Name

Meaning

Order

Name

Meaning

1

Alif

The Letter "A"

11

Bahháj

Delightful

2

Bá

The letter "B"

12

Javáb

Answer

3

Ab

Father

13

Ahad

Single

4

Dál

The letter "D"

14

Vahháb

Bountiful

5

Báb

Gate

15

Vidád

Affection

6

Váv

The letter "V"

16

Badí

Beginning

7

Abad

Eternity

17

Bahí

Luminous

8

Jád

Generosity

18

Abhá

Most Luminous

9

Bahá

Splendour

19

Váhid

Unity

10

Hubb

Love

Ayyám-i-Há

Literally, Days of Há (i.e. the letter Há, which in the abjad system has the numerical value of 5).

Intercalary Days

The four days (five in a leap year) before the last month of the Bahá’í year, ‘Alá’, which is the month of fasting. Bahá'u'lláh designated the Intercalary days as Ayyám-i-Há in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and specified when they should be observed; the Báb left this undefined. The Ayyám-i-Há are devoted to spiritual preparation for the fast, hospitality, feasting, charity and gift giving.